The creature flying at Sen was small compared to humans. Likely only a little over a meter tall and weighing roughly forty-five kilograms. It was covered in short gray hair with straight, pointed ears and no apparent eyes, just a slightly hollow area covered in thin skin where most humanoids had them. However, its mouth was clearly fully functional and filled with long, pointed teeth. Teeth that Sen could see quite well because they were the part leading the creature’s missile-like attack toward his face and neck.

Unfortunately for the surging creature, Sen was more than prepared for the sudden assault. His Essence had already been cycling during the failed ambush. Seeing the beast coming for him, he only had to step forward with his left foot and meet it halfway. Swinging his club in a level strike from left to right, he hit the beast with enough force to obliterate its head into a spray of blood and chunks. The cannibal’s body pinwheeled into a crumbling wall of the nearby outbuilding, giving a solid splat that reverberated through the cavern.

Sen turned toward Joshua. The man had dropped his club and caught the creatures flying at him with a hand around each of their necks—impressive grappling skills.

Josh was banging their heads together. His Essence-enhanced strength created a heavy, hollow sound like the thunk of two large, thick-shelled nuts slamming together before both skulls crunched. Immediately, the small humanoid bodies stopped struggling, their longish limbs limply dangling in Josh’s grasp.

The immediate threat dealt with, Sen and Josh looked nervously around at the sharp, undulant cries that continued to come from all directions. The nearest was approximately fifty meters away, approximately from the direction of the hole in the wall they had come through.

We will have to get through them if we are going to retreat.

To keep his options open, Sen moved in that direction. Josh followed after dropping the two, now dead, bodies and picking up his club.

Sen reasoned that waiting here for the approaching humanoids to come was a good way to get overwhelmed as other groups joined the attack.

Better to try and face off against the group between them and the way out, expunge them, then retreat if necessary.

If not, they could hide and get ready for the next group. Apparently, Joshua agreed, as he was following without comment.

The small monsters’ shadowed forms were visible several seconds before they were in combat range. As they closed the distance, two more beasts loped over from the direction of the temple and joined the three they had already spotted.

The monsters immediately went into action. The fangs-forward launch attack seemed to be the monsters’ basic instinctual combat maneuver. Having already seen it once, Sen and Josh were better prepared. Raising their clubs and knocking the first two cannibals from the air. The monsters’ small humanoid bodies spun end over end into the darkness surrounding them.

With the first two of their number cut down, the other three halted at approximately five meters out. Then started vocalizing in a raised pitch with increased frequency. Returning cries matching the increased rhythm quickly answered from behind Sen and Josh.

“The little cretins are calling in reinforcements!” Josh hissed.

Sen kept his eyes on the three in front of them. The current stalemate was a losing proposition for him and Josh. They were going to be surrounded by fanged-hurtling death.

Nodding, Sen conveyed, ~I’ll take the lead.~

On the move, Sen increased the flow of Essence to his arms and surged into action.

Stepping forward, he hurled his club end over end. It blurred through the air like a buzzsaw and pierced directly through his target’s chest to slam the still-struggling creature to the ground. Its hands failed as it weakly struggled to pull the root out.

Josh joined by launching himself into a flying tackle aimed at the humanoid immediately to the right. With superhuman reflexes, the cannibal turned and tried to run away. But Josh’s enhanced movements were even better. He caught its foot and held it down, pulling the thrashing monster to him one hand at a time like climbing a rope.

Not sitting still, the cannibal’s claws and fangs tore at Josh and opened deep, bleeding wounds on his hands and forearms. Its fangs took mouthfuls of flesh even as Josh bashed its head against the dark tiles. The cracking sound of Josh’s second slam immediately preceded the creature, going limp, as its skull smashed flat as a dinner plate.

With the death of its remaining companions, the last of the humanoid cannibals had fled back into the gloom. Its footsteps faded farther away in the direction of the temple. Its cry sounded different— more like barking with clear breaks. Run away! Run away! Run away!

Half-laughing, half-wincing from the pain of his healing arms, Josh continued his full-body cultivation. Josh was amazed to notice how fast he was healing as he raised his hands from the monster below him. The gushing blood had slowed to a small trickle that dripped down his hands and fingers. Pink, unmarked flesh had already begun to fill in his cuts and bites.

Sen touched Josh’s shoulder. The group behind them had stopped advancing and changed their call to match the one that had just fled. Pulling his club from the chest of the impaled cannibal, Sen looked around for any approaching enemies.

Josh started grabbing the bodies. With three over his shoulder, he said, “Grab that one and follow me. I have a plan.”

Sen waved his hand, indicating, Why run when we can kill these things easily?

Then, a distracted look appeared in his eyes, and Josh suspected he was just now noticing what Josh had already seen. A blinking warning light had appeared in his right visual field, indicating that the blue Essence bar was down to less than 10 percent. Moreover, they were both out of breath, and Sen probably felt as lightheaded as Josh.

Sen let his hand fall, grabbed the body, and followed Josh back to the hole from which they had entered the cavern.

Josh told Sen his thoughts. “These creatures are very much like bats.” To Sen’s blank look, Josh continued, “Bats are avian mammals from where I come from. They are very territorial creatures. They will regroup and likely come to get us if we stay here. I can count at least five left, including the one that got away. I can also feel that your Essence is bottoming out like mine is. I’m not sure why our Essence has dropped so fast, but we don’t have time to figure it out right now, and I doubt we can fight them off without our Essence enhancing us. They are way faster than I am without it.” He raked his free hand through his hair. “But... if we head back up through that hole... I’m betting they don’t consider that as their home territory. It is probably just a place of transit in and out. At least, it appears so based on where they dumped the bodies we found. They won’t likely follow us up there...” Josh raised his brows and nodded up toward the hole in the wall. “... Worth a try anyway. Worse comes to worst, we can get them one at a time as they come out of the hole.”

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Sen wore a look of approval. “Good strategy and plan. Know your enemy. Know yourself.” Then, looking at the bodies they were carrying, Sen added, “These bodies are for us to restore our Essence?”

“Got it in one. Now, let’s get up through that hole. Cycle what’s left of your Essence and help me throw the bodies up first. Then we can jump up, assuming we have enough Essence left.”

They had enough Essence to get the four bodies through the hole. The last one they had to throw a second time as it was tossed too wide and splatted messily against the wall to the side. Jumping up was a bit beyond them, though. They were both well below 5 percent Essence reserves and were lightheaded and woozy. Josh could feel the start of a migraine coming on.

Ultimately, Sen stood on Josh’s shoulders and pulled himself through the hole. He then took off his top garment and tied the top and the bottom together. Then he braced himself against the lip of the hole’s exit and tossed the makeshift rope down. Josh had struggled back up the three meters from the plaza’s floor to the opening.

Using unaugmented strength, they dragged the bodies one at a time through the uphill tunnel. Then they stopped, exhausted, about twenty-five meters back the way they had come. Stooped over, catching their breath in silence, they heard no cries from the cannibals... but their hearing was only the mundane variety. For reasons they couldn’t explain, their enhanced hearing had failed, and they could no longer hear the cannibals’ heartbeats. Neither of them had enough Essence to restart the hearing enhancement either.

They both collapsed on the ground, gasping after the last body was pulled up. Josh had some theories about why their enhanced hearing had quit on them. But he was very grateful that their enhanced sight had continued. Why it did, Josh had no idea. He was out of Essence... very out. Less than 2 percent if he was gauging it right based on the thin blue line at the bottom of his interface. If meridians acted like a battery, then his sight should be fading in and out, at the very least. But it was still rock solid... But these were questions for later... or for the Clone if they ever saw him again.

Five minutes later, after they had caught their breath, Josh and Sen stood and looked over the bodies.

“Okay, let’s get the Essence from these things and get back to it,” Josh said, gesturing for Sen to take the lead.

“Yes, let’s do that.” Sen looked at Josh, also motioning for Josh to take the lead.

Josh canted his head at Sen. His eyes narrowed, and his tone sharpened. “... Are you telling me you don’t know how to gather Essence from these bodies?”

“Well, it’s obvious you don’t either! This is mortal Essence. You are a mortal. You should know more about it than me!”

“Yeah, well... At least I’m not invading people’s brains to fight it out with Immortal Dominator... dudes... am I?”

“That was merely a means of communication,” Sen replied defensively. “Never once did I engage in an act of Ka-dominion. In fact, you saw the results of such an act firsthand with that old woman. How do you think you would have fared if I hadn’t ‘invaded your brain’ at that moment? Because even with my involvement, certain–significant portions of your anatomy suffered extreme damage, did they not?

Josh’s eyes widened in outrage at Sen’s mentioning of the unmentionable hits he had taken . . . They eyed each other for a long second, jaws working, fists clenching.

Sen finally blew out a breath and looked down. “It’s my first time. Okay... I suspect it is a lot like moving our core Essence. We just have to identify it and move it into our core... or something similar...” He trailed off.

“Something like that, huh?” But Josh looked down as well without any heat in his words. “Okay... I’ll go first...”

Josh reached out with his hand and placed it just below the creature’s umbilicus. He tried to sense its Essence like he did his own. There was... something... a small, dark, muddy ball of turgid energy sitting near the thing’s navel. Josh prodded it with his mind–but not his whole mind. He had targeted it with what felt like the center of his mind. The place his mind was touching the Essence was... the pineal gland... Josh’s recently onset wealth of scientific knowledge told him.

At his prodding, the Essence moved... but it was weird. It was like trying to pull a three-foot water balloon by grabbing the center and dragging. It was unattached. Like the dead weight of an unconscious body, twice as heavy as an awake person and always trying to flop away.

Josh focused his mind and concentrated from where he was sure his spirit and physical body met. He then Intended for the cannibal’s Essence to join his own...

Sweat broke out on his brow...

Josh re-doubled his effort...

He saw the Essence line up like iron filings in the strange, tiny, dark core. Then, like a line of ants moving in a single file, it slowly left the core and crossed over into the Essence channels of his hand. Once in his meridians, it started to move faster. Not as quickly as his own Essence did, but three times faster than when it had been flowing through the dead monster’s body. Further, it moved with much less concentration than it had required to instigate his Intent. The Essence moved into his core and sank to the bottom of it just like a fifty-pound barbell dropped into a swimming pool.

Josh drew a sharp breath as his upper legs wobbled under his crouched knees. He slipped back to his haunches and then fell flat on his backside. His eyes glazed over, unfocused, and he marveled at the strange feelings running through him...

... It wasn’t exactly like being stronger because he couldn’t use the Essence yet. It was more like being malnourished and having his stomach suddenly filled all at once. Similar to digesting a meal . . . There had to be some . . . processing involved. Right? There was also an intense sensation of iron or dirt—Earth—in his... spirit?

“Good, Joshua Elias Tanner!” Vibrantly shifting hues of blue exploded across Josh’s eyes as the Clone’s voice gave the man a start.

“Now that you have begun to absorb Essence from other spiritual beings, we can proceed with your growth. You will absorb a second cannibal’s Essence to stretch your core adequately. Then, you will begin your purification cycling. This way, you will increase your core’s capacity and the strength of your meridians. You will be able to carry and use greater amounts of Essence faster. Do so now.”

Head laying on the ground, Josh’s lackadaisically shifting eyes saw that the way to chipper Clone expected his immediate compliance.

I was wondering when you would show up...

But Josh decided the price of saying this thought out loud would be too high. Thankfully, the Clone didn’t call Josh out on it, as he kept it to himself.

Silently eyeing the Clone, Josh pushed himself back up to his knees. Like a man with impaired coordination after drinking, he reached out to repeat the process he had just undertaken...

And then something that hadn’t happened before occurred. The Clone reversed itself... partially...

“--Ahhh... but first... please share with Senyak the details of your first experience and what he can expect when absorbing the mortal Essence. With your Karmic Bond, it should provide a meaningful and smooth transition of information for him... Please do this... first.” The Clone finished, eyes blazing at Josh. Wearing a smile that sane people could only describe as pure malice. Flashes of Cesar Romero meets Heath Ledger meets Joaquin Phoenix haunted Josh’s mind.

Based purely on that smile, I’m guessing this is… going to hurt… I’m screwed, aren’t I?

The Clone’s smile only widened.

So, Josh did it. He explained what he experienced with the pineal gland in the center of his mind. Sen’s need to truly focus from there. Josh also went over the floppy, unhelpful nature of the Essence outside of his body. And how it was not usable in his core after being absorbed.

As usual, the Clone had been correct. Senyak was getting meaningful information about the process. It seemed Sen was actually feeling what Josh described. Somehow, Sen was getting the firsthand knowledge necessary to absorb Essence from outside of his body through their communication and joint efforts in understanding.

Then Josh knelt back to the second cannibal’s body. The Clone nodded minutely as if Josh’s compliance with its commands were the only possible result in this or any other iteration. Josh reached his hand out to the core and Intended...

This time, he was able to get the Essence lined up and move it through on its way to his meridians in about half the time. But that was the good news. It was another story when it crossed over to his home turf meridians.

Josh’s first feelings were—Full... Full... Full! Full! I am sorry! There is no room in the inn, Baby Jesus!

He tried to reverse the flow with his mind and, instinctually, his hands. Any possible thing he could do in that millisecond of its first entering.

But it was hopeless. Josh’s spirit welcomed the Essence with open arms regardless of how excruciating it would be for him at some detached physical level... So, the Essence flowed into his meridians. His eyes bulged like he had just swallowed a flaming bowling ball, and he suddenly knew what The Little Prince’s boa constrictor felt after it had swallowed its elephant.

Then, the Essence moved into and expanded his core. Instantly, Josh felt a stretching, tearing, and burning pain that went from his navel to the center of his brain. A trail of gasolinas, lit by a Mexican match on a Tijuana Street during Grito de Dolores. The tiny green sphere in the center of his interface’s display started blinking. A dotted-red outline appeared outside the spherical dimensions and began flashing. A detached part of Josh’s pain-soaked brain noted that the blinking indicated the new-expanded dimensions of his core. After a few seconds, it steadied to solid green. A wide smile spread across his face as Josh looked up to the Clone and then Senyak, who smiled back and nodded in a terrified but encouraging manner. Then Josh’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell face-first forward onto the dead cannibal’s mangled chest.

So ended the first day Joshua Elias Tanner spent as a cultivator.